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Punch-A-Bunch
Punch-A-Bunch is the first ever all cash game to be played on The Price is Right. The name comes from the fact that the contestant can "Punch-A-Bunch"; the "bunch" means a lot of money. Gameplay *The centerpiece of Punch-A-Bunch is a punchboard which conceals a slip with a dollar value in each of its 50 paper-covered holes. To begin the game, the contestant is shown four small prizes, one at a time, each tagged with an incorrect price. They must decide whether the correct price of each prize is higher or lower than the price shown. For each correct decision, the contestant wins that prize and earns one punch at the board. *After all four prizes are played, the contestant makes the number of punches won, leaving the slips inside the holes. The slip in the first hole punched is removed and shown to the contestant. They must then decide whether to keep the cash amount and quit, or give it back and look in the next hole. The game continues until the contestant accepts the money on a slip or has no more holes to look in, and wins the amount found in the final hole, or if they win the top prize. Since the top prize was increased to $25,000, finding either a $10,000 slip or the $25,000 slip on the last punch will end the game and accompany a big win; other times, finding the $10,000 slip still has the opportunity to go on and find what's in the next hole. Second Chance *Up until June 17, 2011 (the game's final playing in Season 39), there were four special slips on the board, one each of the lowest four values ($50, $100, $250, and $500), which also have "second chance" written on them. If one of these slips is found in a punched hole, the contestant immediately punches an additional hole. The amount found in this new hole is added to the amount on the second chance slip. If any original holes remain, the contestant may accept the total, or return both slips to look in the next of their original holes. *If a second chance punch reveals another second chance slip, the contestant makes an additional punch which is added to the previous total as well. As a result, the maximum prize available in the Punch a Bunch is $25,900, which is won by revealing a second chance slip, punching out each of the three remaining second chance slips in the resulting second chance punches, and finally punching out the $25,000 slip on the final second chance punch. Nevertheless, due to the unlikelihood of first revealing a second chance slip, and then the $25,000 slip on the second chance punch, the announced top prize for the game is simply $25,000, which is the most that can be won with one slip. *Wins of greater than $10,000 have occurred during the period in which $10,000 was the largest value on the board (see History below), although no contestant has ever chained more than one second chance slip with the top prize. Thus, the most ever won in Punch-A-Bunch during this period was the $500 second chance slip followed by the $10,000 slip for a total of $10,500; that occurred on January 22, 2003. Cash distribution *The distribution of prize slips has been altered at various times to adjust the top prize, including for prime time specials. Daytime From September 29, 2008 (aired out of order on December 1) to June 17, 2011, the distribution of prize slips was this: *One each of $50, $100, $250 and $500 slips is marked "second chance" as described above. The distribution of prize slips is currently: *The "second chance" has been removed. On April 23, 2013 (aired out of order on April 22) and October 16, 2015 (aired out of order on October 13, originally rescheduled to air on October 15), for the "Big Money Week", the top prize was increased to $250,000, with the distribution as follows: Primetime The prize slip distribution for Million Dollar Spectaculars is: *On the May 7, 2008 (aired out of order on May 14) special, Punch a Bunch was the Million Dollar Game. For that playing, if the contestant's first punch revealed the $50,000 slip, they would win $1,000,000. On the Survivor primetime special from May 23, 2016, the frequency was: History *Punch a Bunch was the first game to be played for a primary prize consisting only of cash - originally $10,000. It debuted on September 27, 1978 (aired out of order on September 26, 1978) with slightly different gameplay which continued for its first eleven playings. Instead of a single punch on the board, the contestant took two punches for each correctly priced prize: One in the 50-hole main board, as today, and a second in the top row of the game's original board, which had ten holes spelling "punchboard". The ten "punchboard" holes contained the numbers one to ten, and the 50 main holes contained slips saying "Dollar" (20 slips), "Hundred" (20 slips), or "Thousand" (10 slips). The two slips punched were taken together to form a cash value (for example, punches of "5" and "Hundred" would be a prize of $500. Additionally, the contestant made their punches after each correct small prize guess, instead of after all four; a contestant would choose a prize before showing the wrong price and guessing higher or lower. Thus, if a contestant declined a prize value, and did not correctly guess any subsequent small prize(s), they would win nothing. *On March 3, 1989, during that episode's playing, the contestant punched a hole that was empty. Bob did not know what to do, but one person in the audience was telling Bob to give her $10,000. Because he couldn't think of anything more appropriate to do, he awarded the contestant $10,000. *The game's current rules debuted on January 5, 1979, with $10,000 as the highest-valued slip, and the announced top prize. However, by virtue of the second chance slips mentioned above, the top prize was actually $10,900. From January 5, 1979 until July 17, 2008, the distribution was as follows: One each of $50, $100, $250 and $500 slips was marked "second chance" as described above. *On October 31, 2013, the show's Halloween episode, an unknown hand appeared out of the punched holes along with the cash slips. *On May 13, 2016, the game was featured on Let's Make a Deal as part of a mash-up between both shows. *After 127 playings without a contestant punching the hole that contained the top prize, on June 19, 2014, Linda Marshall, the day's fifth contestant called to come on down, became the first to win $25,000, punching the hole that contained the $25,000 slip on her first punch; during the first Showcase Showdown, host Drew Carey stated that her second punch, which was not shown on the air, contained a $10,000 slip. *The game is currently in a daytime losing streak, with the most recent win happening on June 19, 2014. *On the May 23, 2016 Survivor Primetime Special, the $25,000 was won on the fourth and final punch and the winning graphic used was the same winning graphic from the Showcase Showdown when someone lands on the dollar in the bonus spin. Prime time specials (2002-2007) For the prime time specials aired from Season 30 through 35, Punch a Bunch's top prize was $25,000 and no second chance slips were used. The prize distribution was as follows: Presentation changes *The original punchboard, used until May 29, 1996, had a yellow exterior flanked by blue curved lines. When the game debuted, the Punch-A-Bunch sign had a red and green color scheme; it was changed to yellow on September 15, 1980. The original ten "punchboard" holes remained in place until the current set was unveiled, even though they were not used in the gameplay after the original rules were abandoned. When the regular rules were adopted, a frequency chart was added at the bottom of the board. *The introduction of the game initially took place on the turntable, and featured a model (usually Janice Pennington until 2000) holding a $10,000 bill with the host's face on it; then the model would move to stand beside the punchboard. A green sign reading "$10,000" in a font resembling that of American currency was present on the wall of the turntable behind the model. On the December 11, 1992 episode, however, it was introduced with a $10,000 graphic instead, since Dian Parkinson and Kyle Aletter were the only two models on that episode. *On September 10, 1996, the current punchboard and set debuted, and the introduction was changed so that The Giant Price Tag rises to reveal the model holding the $10,000/$25,000 bill while standing in front of the board. *For the prize displays, the punchboard holes are used as a backdrop. The punchboard holes themselves have remained mostly unchanged, but for a short time in either Season 36 or 37, they were changed to purple Pricedown dollar signs. *Around 2010, the small prize backdrop changed to a closeup of the punch board, while the higher/lower cards were changed into a different, yellow font, and the background is green. *On the Survivor primetime special from May 23, 2016, the game was repainted and redesigned for the Survivor theme. On June 3, 2016, the repainted set got carried over to the daytime show. On September 22, 2016, the frequency chart becomes blue. Foreign versions *On the 80's UK version, the top prize was £500, and there were a few £0's on the board, while Italy's OK offered a new car. *On Mexico's Atínale al Precio, the game was played under the name "4 Rounds" (literally meaning "4 Punches"). MX$10,000 was the top prize. On the Netherlands Cash en Carlo, the distribution is as such: Pictures Old Version Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 01.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 02.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 03.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 04.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 05.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 06.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 07.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 08.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 09.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 10.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 11.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (1.0) 12.jpg Current Version Punch-A-Bunch 1.jpg|The Old Punch-A-Bunch Punchboard with the yellow Punch-A-Bunch sign Punch-A-Bunch 2.jpg|Here it is again from later years. Punch-A-Bunch $10,000.jpg|This is what any player playing Punch-A-Bunch in the daytime from the 1970s to 2000s and in prime time 1986 wants to find. This is from a 1986 prime time special, as you can also see a close-up of Bob's tux. Janice Plays Punch-A-Bunch.jpg|Longtime model Janice Pennington playing the game herself. This all came about because she said "I've always wanted to play the game." This happened while Rod Roddy was reading off the prizes. vlcsnap-2015-06-27-23h43m26s034.png|Bryan is playing Punch-a-Bunch. vlcsnap-2015-06-27-23h40m56s190.png|Brian finds $5,000 and decides to give it back. vlcsnap-2015-06-27-23h42m17s917.png|After that, he finds the top cash prize seen here. What a real risk taker. bryanpunchabunch (01-26-1996).jpg|Here's another look at a similar snapshot. vlcsnap-2015-06-27-23h44m06s238.png|And Bryan sure was proud of that when he shocked the world from January 26, 1996. Punch-A-Bunch 3.jpg|The Current Punch-A-Bunch Punchboard Bob Holds $10K Slip.jpg|From 1999 (Season 27), a big win! vlcsnap-2013-02-09-18h05m08s14.png|This is from Bob's final week, in particular, June 11, 2007. This is also from the DVD set (Disc 4, specifically), as there is no CBS bug. punch16.jpg|This is what any player playing Punch-A-Bunch in the 2002 prime time specials and $1,000,000 Spectaculars wants to find. This is from the first Million Dollar Spectacular on February 5, 2003. Punch-A-Bunch (Carey) 1.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (Carey) 2.jpg Punch-A-Bunch (Carey) 3.jpg Punch a Bunch 1st 25000 Win! 1.jpg Punch a Bunch 1st 25000 Win! 2.jpg Punch a Bunch 1st 25000 Win! 3.jpg Punch a Bunch 1st 25000 Win! 4.jpg|The first $25,000 win in the Drew Carey Era, and it was on the first punch! pab25000.jpg Valentine's Day-3.JPG|This heart-shaped waffle maker was presented in this game. punchabunch2016-1.jpg punchabunch2016-2.jpg punchabunch2016-3.jpg punchabunch2016-4.jpg|A graphic is now used when someone ends up winning the second highest cash prize in "Punch a Bunch". In this case, $10,000. punchabunchs45.jpg $250,000 Punch-a-Bunch 250000punchy1.jpg 250000punchy2.jpg|The $250,000 slip was in hole #29, which that contestant did not punch. Prime time Survivor Special punchabunchsurvivor1.jpg punchabunchsurvivor2.jpg punchabunchsurvivor3.jpg Punch-A-Bunch for $50,000 50000punchabunch.jpg 50000punchabunch2.jpg Custom Photo Wall.png|The punchboard. Trivia *The most number of times this game was played in any season was 32. YouTube Videos An Early playing of Punch-A-Bunch 1.0 $10,000 won (January 4, 1999) Over $10,000 won (January 22, 2003) $25,000 won on Primetime TV (February 12, 2003, aired out of order on February 5) First Punch-A-bunch daytime $25,000 winner from Drew Carey era (June 19, 2014) $25,000 won on Survivor special (May 23, 2016) Category:Higher or Lower Games Category:Pricing Games Category:Active Games Category:Cash Award Games Category:Small Prize Games Category:1970s Pricing Games Category:A Choice of 2 Category:OK to be Wrong Category:You're Allowed to Quit Category:The Player is in Command Category:Must be Correct to Continue Category:Center Stage Pricing Games Category:Multiple Choice Games Category:Million Dollar Game Category:Primetime Pricing Games Category:Correct Price is Told Category:Can Be Finished Immediately Category:Instant Winning Pricing Games Category:Long Play Category:Hard Winning Pricing Games Category:"P" Pricing Games Category:3-Word Pricing Games